Officials from the Austria Development Cooperation (ADC) on Thursday visited various JLOS institutions in Lira District as part of a fact finding mission to assess progress in several Austria-funded programs in the Justice, Law and Order Sector. The visiting team comprised of Mr Peter Launsky (Director General for Development Cooperation in the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs); Mr Martin Ledolter - Managing Director / ADA); Ms Simone Knapp (Head of Office / ADA Uganda); Ms Mona Ungersboeck (Programme Officer Governance / ADA Uganda) and Ms Gerda Ludvik - spouse to the Director General for Development Cooperation.

The Austrian delegation were taken on a guided tour of Lira Prison by the Officer-in-Charge, Ms Maureen Ninsiima in the company of various officials from sector institutions that included Mr. Sam Wairagala (Ag. Deputy Senior Technical Advisor, JLOS Secretariat); Mr. Frank Baine (Public Relations Officer, Uganda Prisons); officials from the Paralegal Advisory Services, staff from the office of the Resident State Attorney, Justice Centres Uganda and the Courts of Judicature.

During the Prison tour, the Austrian delegation interacted with the prisoners as well as prison officials on issues of human rights, welfare and trials in the courts. In his address to the prisoners, Mr. Ledolter commended the work being done by the paralegal advisory services in the administration of justice especially in prison installations. He said expressed Austria’s commitment improving the living conditions of prisoners citing the Austrian-funded initiatives in the water and sanitation development sector that largely focus on hygiene and clean water supply. Mr Peter Launsky said that Austria in partnership with the Justice, Law and Order Sector was committed to ensuring justice for all those incarcerated in prisons.

Later on in the day, a meeting between the visiting Austria delegation and officials from JLOS institutions was held at the Lira High Court chaired by the Resident Judge, Justice Dr. Winfred Nabisinde. During the interactive meeting, issues of service delivery were discussed and solutions proposed to the identified impediments, challenges and gaps.

Asked about his assessment of the sector in an interview with JLOS.GO.UG, Mr. Martin Ledolter commended the “tremendous progress” achieved by JLOS citing achievements in access to justice and human rights such as improvement in living conditions of prisoners, access to legal services through Justice Centres Uganda and the Paralegal advisory services. He however said that a lot still has to be done especially in regard to issues of case backlog in the courts which have led to an increase in prisoners on remand.

Mr. Launsky also disclosed in an interview that Austria is in the process of developing another five-year country strategy for Uganda (2015 – 2020). The current Austria Country Strategy ends in 2015. He said that Austria is committed to continued support to the Justice, Law and Order Sector given the progress made in various intervention areas over the last five years.

Austria Development Cooperation

The Austria Development Cooperation has been at the forefront of sector reforms through financial support to the JLOS work plan for the last 13 years. The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is the operational unit of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). It is in charge of implementing all bilateral programs and projects in ADC's partner countries and administers the budget earmarked for this.